Chelsea, our dedicated Homepay rep, has answered some questions pertaining to the changes in unemployment benefits due to the Coronavirus. Here is some information we found helpful: Question: What does California State unemployment benefits usually pay and for what length of time? Is it a percentage of your average earnings or is it the same amount for every individual? Answer: Benefits are generally paid out…

MaryPat doesn’t fly around with a black umbrella, but she does have over 20 years of experience as a Child Development Expert. These posts will answer questions about child development concerns & managing your relationship with your employer or employee. Dear MaryPat, With the holidays coming up, I was wondering if my family is required to provide paid holidays and paid vacation time off? Any…

We found some interesting facts in an article recently posted at SFGate.com … “California-Is it legal or not?” We picked a few that may relate to some childcare or family assistant duties. Some of these laws seemed pretty obvious, while others came as a bit of a surprise. You can check out the full list by clicking on the link above. Some of the more…

During our last Housekeeper Training Seminar, “Professionalism & Communication as a Housekeeper,” one of our attendees requested more information on recycling and composting. It can be confusing trying to figure out what goes where! We found a great site called recologysf.com that makes the whole process a lot easier to understand with their Residential Recycling, Composting & Trash Services information. You can find detailed information…

When is the deadline to sign up for Obamacare? Open enrollment for the Affordable Healthcare Act is on Monday, March 31st. If you don’t sign up by Monday, then you will have to pay a tax penalty. As this post at the KQED website describes, some people have been under the impression that the penalty is just $95 per person … but that’s just the…

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued a new “Employment Eligibility Verification Form,” i.e., the so-called I-9 Form. The old one nominally expired last year, and the new one is now valid through March 31, 2016. Unfortunately, the form has grown considerably in size – the instructions have gone from 3 pages to 6 and the portion you and your new employee have…

This reminder from California attorney Bob King at www.legallynanny.com: “If you’re a family hiring someone in your home, always negotiate based on gross, not net, pay. Net pay agreements make it more difficult to calculate overtime and could allow the employee to overwithhold taxes at your expense. You can always determine the net pay, but any agreement should be based on gross hourly wages.” Why…